A Banner Year For Programmatic Advertising
When the first banner ad graced the screens of HotWired.com visitors on October 27, 1994, brand safety concerns and “banner blindness” were still decades away. In this time and space, the ideal audience for this ad was everyone. The ad was designed with an adventurous, service-based message influenced by the technological allure of the future. It asked, “Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE?” then responded with the premonition, “You will” (source). 44% of people clicked on the first banner ad, which is quite a contrast to today’s widely diverse advertising ecosystem where the average click rate is 0.5 % (source). In other words, the ad’s prediction was quite accurate. Millions of people clicked on the first banner ad; since then, millions of banner ads have appeared online thanks to the seismic growth of digital advertising and the introduction of programmatic.
DOMESTIC SPEND ON PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING IS ESTIMATED TO REACH ROUGHLY $60 BILLION IN 2019, ACCORDING TO EMARKETER (source).
Fast forward to November 7th, 2019–the digital world celebrated the first National Programmatic Advertising Day recognizing the many advancements made in digital media. With the introduction of programmatic advertising, the digital advertising climate has evolved to show limitless potential—from marketing with AI to programmatic radio and TV. Domestic spend on programmatic advertising is projected to reach roughly $60 billion in 2019, according to eMarketer. However, with data being the bridge that connects advertisers to their target audiences, marketers and consumers alike have become more privy to transparency and control in digital advertising.
Now, in this new era of digital advertising, an increased emphasis on transparency becomes a differentiator between ad tech companies. For example, companies are now able to power campaign efforts using AI technology. This advantage not only allows companies to be more transparent with their use of data and the reach of the ad campaigns – it also allows them to bridge first- and third-party data faster and more efficiently than humanly possible. Companies with access to advanced insights and analytics are able to use transparent reporting to inform future campaigns–a notable advancement in the industry.
SINCE 1994, DIGITAL ADVERTISING HAS COME A LONG WAY, AND SO HAVE THE SKILLS NEEDED TO CUT THROUGH THE NOISE AND CONTINUALLY DEPLOY SUCCESSFUL AD CAMPAIGNS.
Since 1994, digital advertising has come a long way, and so have the skills needed to cut through the noise and continually deploy successful ad campaigns. Today, as the average person views 1,700 banner ads a month, it not only takes powerful creatives to reach their target audience, but it also requires precise targeting (source). No matter how profound the creative is, it must reach those it will resonate with at the right time. This understanding is where AdDaptive stands out among other prominent ad tech companies. AdDaptive’s technology boosts display (banner), B2B Sponsored Content (native), and video advertising efforts by ensuring you reach your target business audiences at scale while providing valuable audience insights to inform future campaigns. Fueling our intelligent technology with validated, firmographic data means three things: We only serve ads to the decision-makers that matter most, the data used to target your B2B audience is verified, and the insights obtained from each campaign are actionable.
In the past 25 years, the industry has evolved and so has the technology used to ensure ads reach the right audiences. The banner ad is still going strong, but it has been adapted to fit different formats and distribution channels to make the digital advertising world more diverse. The more ads in the ecosystem, the more messages being conveyed in creative ways, and the more information companies have to strategize for future ad campaigns and support their business goals in new ways. The industry has come a long way in 25 years – who knows where we’ll be in 25 more! Regardless of where we land, companies like AdDaptive will continue to tweak their solutions to keep up with the ever-changing digital advertising landscape, embracing the future of the ad tech industry.
